A perennial favorite, the Vero Beach Art Club’s 66th annual Under the Oaks Fine Arts and Crafts Show this past weekend once again drew huge crowds of art aficionados eager to see the very best works of more than 200 artists.
“We have between 600 and 700 artists that apply every year,” said Alicia Quinn, co-chair of the three-day event with Sue Dinenno and Beth Fairchild. “We jury the entries and take 220; so less than one-third are invited to participate in the show. We try to get new vendors but we don’t focus on that; about a third of the artists are new this year. I think we have a wider range of artists this year and a bit more glass.”
“This year the awards are designated 2-D and 3-D rather than individual categories,” said Liz Mayo, judge coordinator. 2-D judges were Susan Archer and Katherine Pill, and 3-D judges were Stefan Alexandres and Carla Funk.
At an awards dinner Friday evening, 20 awards were presented in each of the two categories plus one overall for Best in Show. Additionally, three memorial awards were presented to VBAC members.
“I’m very lucky to get in; I think this is my eighth time,” said local pastel artist Dawn Miller. “I don’t ever take it for granted. It’s a nationally competitive show. We’re always very glad when we get that acceptance note.”
She credited the hard-working VBAC members for the show’s lasting success, adding, “These guys are all volunteers and they’ve been working on it for months.”
The show offered a full variety of artistic talents, including paintings and photography, jewelry and sculpture, glass blowing and wood-carvings. Some of this year’s more unusual entries were new to the show, such as unique forged tables and lighting fixtures by blacksmith Luke Proctor of Wisconsin. Another first-timer was Geoff Warner of Maine, designer and founder of Owl Furniture, handmade, ergonomically-designed wooden stools for optimal spinal alignment.
“We’ve been here six weeks and this is the last of five shows we’ve done. We think it’s probably the best; this is a great show,” said Warner.
“To me this is one of the best ones I’ve seen yet. There are some new people and it’s all very good quality,” said local pottery artist Maria Sparsis, one of three quality-control volunteers. “We check to see that the work they got juried in with is what they show, that the artists displaying are actually there and that pricing is visible. I’ve been doing this for years now; everyone has been extremely nice this year. It’s fun because you get to see the show from a different perspective.”
One change they made this year was inviting only local food vendors to participate and, as a trio of friends from New Smyrna enjoyed their lunch choices, they too commented on the quality of the show. All were sporting gold “sponsorship donor” stickers, having made a donation to support the scholarships and school art supplies provided by the Art Club.
“Some of the artists even thanked us,” said Elaine Sellig. “I thought that was very nice.”
